Green Businesses
Choose Businesses That Care for the Keys
The natural beauty of the Florida Keys is part of what makes being here so special. Across the island chain, local businesses are taking steps to conserve natural resources, reduce waste and help protect the waters and ecosystems around them.
You can be part of that effort. Use the listings below to find accommodations, restaurants, marinas, dive operators, fishing guides and other businesses recognized for environmentally responsible practices.
Find Green Businesses in the Florida Keys
Ready to make your trip a little greener? Browse the businesses below and use the filters to find participating places to stay, eat, dock, dive, and fish.
Green Lodging
Rest easy knowing your stay can make a difference. Florida Green Lodging properties are recognized for efforts to conserve resources such as water and energy and reduce waste. Look for the Green Lodging leaf when choosing where to stay in the Keys.
Blue Star Operators
Heading out on or under the water? Choose a Blue Star-certified dive operator or fishing guide. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s Blue Star program recognizes operators that help visitors enjoy diving, snorkeling and fishing while following practices that safeguard the Keys’ marine resources.
Clean Marinas
A day on the water starts at the dock. Clean Marina businesses help make environmentally responsible boating part of the Florida Keys experience. Use the listings below to find participating marinas throughout the island chain.
Ocean Friendly Restaurants
Make your next meal a little friendlier to the ocean. Ocean Friendly Restaurants are recognized for making choices designed to reduce waste and support healthier oceans.
Skip the Stuff
Sometimes less really is more. Restaurants and food trucks participating in Skip the Stuff help reduce single-use waste by providing items such as plastic utensils, straws and condiment packets only when customers ask for them.
Visitors can help, too. Simply say “no thanks” to the extras you don’t need.
Plastic Free Key West
Plastic Free Key West celebrates Key West businesses taking action to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, single-use plastics. Participating businesses make voluntary commitments to reduce plastic use through more sustainable choices.
Protect Our Seagrass
Seagrass beds are part of what makes Florida Keys waters so special. They also need a little help from boaters. Propellers can damage shallow seagrass beds, leaving scars behind. Check tide and navigational charts before you head out, and steer clear of shallow areas. A handy local reminder is: “Brown, brown, run aground. Blue, blue, sail on through."
Filters
Key West
Sugar Apple Organic Cafe & Market
Sugar Apple Organic Café & Market in Key West serves fresh, plant-based meals and organic groceries in a relaxed, eco-friendly setting.
The Lower Keys
Hogfish Bar & Grill
Hogfish Bar and Grill in Key West serves authentic island flavors, fresh local seafood, and cold drinks in a laid-back waterfront setting.
Key West
Captain's Corner Dive Center and Boat Charters
Dive Key West’s stunning reefs and wrecks with expert guides at Captain’s Corner!
Key West
Purple Heron Charters
Purple Heron Charters offers private flats, backcountry, and eco-tour fishing charters out of Key West with Captain John Hoover, specializing in fly fishing, spin fishing, and sight fishing for a wide variety of inshore species.
Key West
Silver Tide Charters
Silver Tide Charters, led by Captain Bryson Shaaber, offers professional flats and backcountry fishing trips in the Florida Keys. Utilizing a Pathfinder 2500 Hybrid Bay Boat equipped with top-tier technology, Captain Bryson provides an unforgettable fishing experience.
Islamorada
A Fishing Guide
Captain Steve Friedman helped build the sanctuary's Blue Star Fishing Guide program and fishes under its certification. Sight fishing for tarpon, bonefish, permit, redfish and snook out of Islamorada, on a poling skiff or a bay boat with room for the whole family.
Islamorada
Forever Young Charter Company
Private dive, snorkel, spearfishing & fishing charters in the Florida Keys.
Islamorada
R-U Fishing Yet
R U Fishing Yet Charters, led by Captain Richard Burson, offers personalized backcountry and fly fishing trips in the Florida Keys and Everglades. Target species include snook, redfish, sea trout, bonefish, tarpon, and permit. Family-friendly charters are available for anglers of all skill levels.
Key West
Lost Reef Adventures
Lost Reef Adventures is a 5-Star PADI dive center in Key West offering daily scuba diving, snorkeling trips, certifications, sunset cruises, and private charters—all backed by 30 years of experience and full-service gear support.
Key West
Finz Dive Center
Six divers, one boat, and a NOAA Blue Star operator running everything from a two tank reef dive to a ten hour run out to the Dry Tortugas. The Vandenberg, Joe's Tug, night dives and spearfishing are all on the board, with a divemaster in the water every time.
Islamorada
Gardenia's Bistro / GB’s Lounge
Gardenia's Bistro is a plant-filled, eco-friendly café in Tavernier where clean, seasonal food and ethically sourced coffee come without the single-use plastic. Come sunset, the garden setting transforms into GB's Alter Ego, a breezy lounge pouring cocktails and tapas.
Key West
Key West Garden Club at West Martello Tower
Tropical garden paradise by the sea at the historic West Martello Tower—free-admission gardens, beach views, volunteer-run, perfect for nature lovers in Key West.
Key West
Sea, Key West
Sea, Key West is Old Town's locally owned watersports shop at 720B Caroline Street — the place to gear up for paddleboarding, SCUBA diving, snorkeling, spearfishing, and freediving adventures in the Florida Keys, with a free coffee bar, local Keys brands on the shelves, and Maxine the parrot waiting to say hello.
Key West
Doing Work Coffee
Doing Work Coffee is the southernmost coffee roaster in the United States, slinging artisan coffees, cold brew, nitro coffee, and secret recipe hand-crafted waffles from their cozy spot inside Wicked Lick Ice Cream on Duval Street — where every cup is fully compostable and every sip is genuinely worth the trip.
